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Casino Bill Update Would Require Convention Center In Fairfax County
Legislation that would pave the way for a casino to be built in Fairfax County was amended by state lawmakers Thursday to add a requirement that any casino proposal must include a convention center as part of the development. On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations recommended Senate Bill 756 to the full Senate for consideration with a substitute motion that removed Tysons as the location for any proposed casino development. Versions of the casino bill in previous years had restricted the casino to the Tysons area, specifying a gaming facility could be built along Metro’s Silver Line outside I-495 in Fairfax County. During its regular midday session on Thursday, the Senate rejected the committee's substitute motion and then approved a new substitute introduced by Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon), the bill's sponsor.
As advocates push for Chesapeake Bay-specific data, menhaden quota bill advances
The debate over the oily forage fish menhaden is not over in the General Assembly, as one bill advanced Thursday that would create catch quota periods for the only reduction fishery allowed in the Chesapeake Bay. House Bill 1049 would create periods of time where the reduction fishery Ocean Harvesters, which contracts with Omega Protein, will be subject to additional caps on how much of the fish they can remove from the Bay. The bill would also require an observer on the vessels to view the harvests during 10% of their trips. A separate measure, Senate Bill 474, aimed to set up a fund for a Bay-specific study on menhaden to get a better understanding of the species and determine if they are being overfished. That bill failed in committee.
Bill to Add Sixth Circuit Court Judge Moves to Full Senate
A bill by Sen. Russet Perry (D-31) that would add a judge to the 20th Circuit Court has received approval from a second Senate committee and will now move to the full body for consideration. SB 158 would increase the number of judges in the 20th circuit from five to six. A new judge is proposed to assist with the caseload facing the court. During review by the Courts of Justice Committee, the legislation was amended to include other legislation setting the maximum number of judgeships in each district and circuit across the state. A companion bill has also been introduced in the House by Del. David Reid (D-28) and Del. Atoosa Reaser (D-27).
Third candidate enters the Democratic race for 6th District nomination
The shake-out from Democrats’ proposed map of new congressional district lines in Virginia has produced an additional candidate for the 6th District. That redrawn district, which would stretch from Radford to Charlottesville to Harrisonburg, would already include Roanoke author Beth Macy and former U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello of Albemarle County. Jumping into the race on Thursday was Hugh Murray, an attorney and U.S. Army veteran. ... The twist: Murray lives in Henrico County, but Henrico isn’t in either the current or proposed version of the 6th District. However, members of the U.S. House aren’t required to live in their district, just in their state.
Virginia Supreme Court rules U.S. Marine’s adoption of an Afghan war orphan will stand
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a U.S. Marine and his wife will keep an Afghan orphan they brought home in defiance of a U.S. government decision to reunite her with her Afghan family. The decision likely ends a bitter, yearslong legal battle over the girl’s fate. In 2020, a judge in Fluvanna County, Virginia, granted Joshua and Stephanie Mast an adoption of the child, who was then 7,000 miles away in Afghanistan living with a family the Afghan government decided were her relatives. Four justices on the Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday signed onto an opinion reversing two lower courts’ rulings that found the adoption was so flawed it was void from the moment it was issued.
A Black newspaper in the former capital of the Confederacy is closing
The Richmond Free Press, a Black-owned weekly newspaper that has served Virginia’s capital city for more than three decades, announced Thursday that it is ceasing publication, citing a collapse in advertising revenue that made the paper unsustainable. “We know for sure that we do not have the advertising support to continue,” publisher Jean Patterson Boone wrote in a farewell message on Instagram. “All goodbyes are not forever. And this may be. Or not.” Raymond H. Boone Sr., a newspaper reporter turned journalism school professor, founded the paper in January 1992 after leaving his job teaching at Howard University. In Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy, Boone saw a media landscape that he thought failed Black readers.
Public employee union legalization heads to House floor
Virginia has had a ban on public employee union bargaining for decades. Democrats, in the majority four years ago, loosened that ban and allowed localities to opt-in to such bargaining agreements. Now, an effort that would fully repeal the ban is headed to the House floor after a successful committee vote this week.
Lynchburg City Council reaffirms 2nd Amendment sanctuary status for the city
The Lynchburg City Council voted 6-1 to reaffirm the city's Second Amendment sanctuary status during Tuesday evening's meeting. Republican Vice Mayor Curt Dimer and Ward IV Councilman Faraldi spearheaded this idea after both men shared concerns that several pieces of legislation moving through the General Assembly would aim to harm a person's Second Amendment right.
Concerns over rewrite of student demonstrations policy surface at Virginia Beach School Board
Questions surrounding changes proposed to the policy governing student-led demonstrations were raised by members of the school board at a meeting Tuesday evening. Board members challenged the amendments proposed to Policy 5-40, which would rewrite and expand upon the code defining what Virginia Beach students are allowed to do when leading or participating in demonstrations. Their dialogue continues a monthslong discussion on how the school system of Virginia’s largest city should regulate student-led demonstrations amid increasing calls by students for activism at their schools.
Senate panel advances $48 hike in weekly unemployment benefits
Virginians who lose their jobs through no fault of their own would receive a $48 weekly increase in unemployment benefits under legislation on its way to the full Senate, but they won't know exactly how many weeks they would be entitled to receive it. The Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved Senate Bill 759, introduced by Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, to restore the money that then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin trimmed last year from the first boost in unemployment insurance benefits in more than a decade.